Motorola RAZR takes fire, literally; saves man’s life

Despite being significantly more expensive, Apple’s iPhone 3G is constantly gaining ground on the Motorola RAZR’s top sales position in the US. It has tons more features, more functionality and completely trumps the RAZR in terms of wow-factor. One thing the iPhone won’t do however, is save your life. Ronald “R.J.” Richard was doing yard work on his 5-acre property in St. Tammany, Louisiana when something struck him in the chest right above his heart. Richard described the impact as “a punch in the chest,” and initially thought some debris had been kicked up by his lawn mower. When the 68-year-old reached under his sweater and removed the cell phone clipped to his overalls to see if it had been damaged by the impact, a single .45 caliber bullet dropped into his lap. According to the report, someone had fired the round from woods roughly 1/4-mile from Richard’s home, without malicious intent, and inadvertently struck the man in the chest. The cellphone and case, which Richard doesn’t ordinarily clip to the front of his overalls, took 100% of the damage from the bullet and the man walked away without a scratch. Sure an iPhone might keep you entertained for hours, but a RAZR will take a bullet for you. Hit the read link of a video report.

Hmmm I wonder what would happen if you got a bullet to the iPhone’s glass display. That might not have gone over so well…

Dtest54

well there was the story of an old ipod stopping a bullet in iraq, perhaps BG should do a mythbusters type investigation on this.

http://www.zatznotfunny.com Dave Zatz

I’d move to a better neighborhood. ;)

http://www.phonereport.info christexaport

Man! I have to aim better…
Darn Razr’s won’t die! Sorry, fella, but you were just collateral damage. Should’ve had a Nokia N or Eseries. It would’ve fired back. 8)

http://www.bgr.com The Boy Genius

@Dtest54

Mythbusters did do it actually. Found out it was total bullshit. At least the iPod part of it and not the bullet-proof armor dude was wearing…

Tande

It didn’t save his life.

It might of saved him some injuries maybe a cracked rib but if it did that little damage to his cell phone it wouldn’t of done a whole lot more to his body.

Black93300ZX

@Tande, I was thinking the same thing, .45 from 1/4 mile away… But shit, if you’re so sure it wouldn’t do much, try it out. I’m not willing to be hit in the chest by a bullet with nothing but a sweatshirt under any conditions, so as far as I’m concerned it saved him.

The real question is, does the phone still power up? Razr’s never die.

Dtest54

BG, oh yeah i do remember that episode. this story is lame because the bullet was fired from so far away any metal object would have stopped it.
atleast I think so.

CanisMinor

Looking at the pics of that phone, I’m skeptical. I call BS on this one.

http://stewartent.com Stewart

The guy is 68 years old and had the phone clipped to the front of his overalls, “over his heart”. Taking a shot to chest over the heart could have caused any number of physical problems.

Think of it this way, How much force would it take to cause that amount of damage to a phone by hitting it with a hammer? Now think about hitting an old man in the chest above his heart with a hammer with the same amount of force .

The phone may in fact have saved his life.

grooves12

I call BS… there is no way that bullet was shot out of a gun, impacted something and retained its perfect shape. That just doesn’t happen.

Hello World!

I believe the same guys who found the big-foot remains a few month back might have fired this shot.

David

Yeah it could of have taken a bullet, one that was not shot from a gun :)

David

Kamokazi

@grooves

1/4 mile is a pretty good distance for a heavy pistol round like that…it lost a lot of its force by the time it hit him.

chuck

The quality of this article is horrible…
1) The iPhone is now the best selling phone in the US. Google it.
2) What data do you have that shows an iPhone wouldn’t have had the same result in this situation?

jimmykicks

If you’re 68 years old, you’re probably not heavy texter, nor into any of that nerdy internet crap.

Given that, the RAZR is a better phone for two important reasons: 1) It’s lighter and 2) You can actually *hang up* on someone.

… Which is very satisfying when you’re an angry old man with a broken lawnmower

info

@ chuck

Seriously, those are your problems with the article?

1) The iPhone has been the best selling phone for a single quarter, the RAZR is still the top selling phone for 2008.
2) If you want to test out the iPhone’s performance, I have a 45 and I am a descent shot. Although 1/4 mile is a long way, I am willing try as long as you hold still.

http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

@ info,
you took my comment right from my keypad! Lol!

I’m so sick of iFans… Now I know how my friends feel about my Nokia Nseries Fanboism.

The iPhone’s a nice phone! Ok! But it only sells well here, where most of the good smartphones have been nearly impossible to get domestically. The Razr has made much more money for Motorola than the iPhone for Apple.

Ask India, the UK, and Japan how much they prefer the iPhone over the more globally popular smartphones. The rest of the world prefers the Nokia N95 variants. Don’t celebrate the iPhone selling with few competitors. The Razr is one of the best selling devices of the millenium. The 2 iPhones haven’t even outsold the better Nokia N95, a single model! Perspective, bro! Its just a media player. Icon, yes. Razr status? Not yet. Talk about it in 2 more years…

Jdmgwagon

You should really see the residents of LEE RD… at least 85% of them are related… where the family trees dont split… Its bad off…

James

Hahaha, that will be the day! But the new E series would definitely stop the bullet with that beautiful stainless steel

MammaMia!

As BG said earlier, yes, Mythbusters did something on this in one of their episodes, however it was with a gun shot at CLOSE RANGE. This round was shot from at least a quarter of a mile. Mythbusters didn’t test that far of a distance. I think the farthest they completed was a couple hundred of yards, at most. Although, I’d be willing to bet they’d try this one again with the news of this info. They’re always looking for viral videos and news stories to test their guns on (sorry for the bad pun!).